The right to affordable access to hospitals, clinics and dispensaries is one of the major priorities of government authorities. The constant migration towards cities and consequent growth of informal urban settlements makes it imperative to consider the ‘grid of influence’ of such facilities. An attempt is made to understand this influence through satellite imagery and neural networking. Parameters such as distance from access roads and different types of informal settlements were analysed to understand their significance. These parameter models were then used as inputs for training a neural network in a case study area. Statistical plots helped to understand the weight of the parameters and accordingly a spatial probability map was prepared. The results of the study could aid development officials in their various plans and proposals for their urban jurisdiction, helping to increase accessibility to health facilities using modern predictive tools.
The unplanned expansion of cities has become a serious concern in India these days. They exert pressure on the city’s resources, resulting in uncontrolled expansion and unliveable circumstances. As a result, there is a need to design certain techniques to reduce this issue in order to have planned growth both within and outside the city. In this research, the demographic, physical and environmental transformations of the peri-urban areas of Pune City have been analysed using GIS and parameters have been suggested to develop a selection index to help identify the areas having urban traits and suggest separate urban local bodies for their governance and planning.
Highlights for public administration, management and planning:
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Peri-urban regions experience a lot of changes as they transition from rural to urban features, and assessing these changes using GIS is critical for better planning of such areas’ development.
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This study provides parameters and creates a selection index to determine if periurban regions have high or low urban traits, and then determines whether those areas should be combined with current municipal boundaries or formed into new urban local bodies using the ArcGIS software.
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